Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Hellish journey

After a couple of days in Santorini we needed to move on to the next island so that we would be able to get the boat back to Athens at the end of the holiday.The plan was to sail around the breathtaking caldera of Santorini and then sail on to Milos. However there were white horses as we left the marina at six in the morning and by the time we were about to round the south-west point of the island the wind had really started to blow. Because of the very high cliffs around the caldera, the wind was gusting unpredictably in the centre so we felt it was safer to skip the scenic detour and head straight for Milos. The waves became so high that I regularly got drenched by water coming over the coach-roof into the cockpit. Poor Xavier was sick and all of the children just curled up in their bunks below decks as we crashed our way over the waves. I stupidly hadn’t thought to pack anything waterproof so staying on deck to support Robin became a very cold and wet affair. Lunch was anything that you could hold in one hand, so as Robin helmed I clambered up and down the steps down to the galley to supply him with bananas, apricots etc to keep his strength up.Ten very wet hours later we started to near Milos and the two older boys felt able to help out on deck. I thought this was a chance to dry myself off and went down to my cabin. However the boat hit a particularly big wave and I was thrown against the side of the boat, hitting my head and shoulder and bending my glasses completely out of shape. Fortunately as we always seems to have spectacles crises on holiday I was wearing a very old spare pair, so not my most up-to-date prescription. At this point, as Robin seemed to have enough help I just curled up and nursed my wounds until we were almost at our destination.It was wonderful to reach the peace of Adhamos harbour on Milos. That evening, after long hot showers we went out for pizzas. The food wasn’t great, but it was lovely to be sitting in a comfortable seat that didn’t move!

1 Comments:

Stormy weather and then bright sunshiny scenes - what a trip. I'm not good on boats that move like that! Large ferries for me, but hey, one bad accident in Tonga when a ferry went down last week with over ninety people lost. w.

This is a place where I regularly post personal artwork, good, bad or indifferent.

The characters that crop up regularly in this blog are husband – Robin, eldest teenager and only daughter – Flo, next teenager and eldest son – Tom, teenager second son – Hugo, five year old third son – Xavier, and red Staffordshire Bull Terrier – Rufus.

I'll try to reply wherever you comment but if I don't it's only because I'm overwhelmed with running a family and earning a living.

My two eldest have started a business venture selling artwork (mainly my paintings) to raise money for university. Please visit their site, Oakley Gallery to see what they are selling now.

If you want to buy prints of anything you see here or have any requests please send an email to flo at oakleygallery dot com